Effect of Aloe vera extract on the improvement of the respiratory activity of leukocytes of matrinxã during the transport stress

This study evaluated the effect of extract of Aloe vera in the transport water of matrinxã (Brycon amazonicus) fish on stress response and leukocyte respiratory activity. Fish was transported for 4 h in water containing Aloe at levels 0; 0.02; 0.2 and 2 mg/L, and sampled before transport 2, 4, 24 and 96 h after for determination of plasma glucose and respiratory activity of leukocytes. An additional in vitro assay was conducted with another fish species, pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus), to test the respiratory burst of leukocytes exposed to Aloe extract (0.0, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) only) at 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 and 1 mg/L). Plasma glucose increased after 2 and 4 h of transport and returned to control levels within 24 h, but the addition of Aloe in the transport water did not affect the level of blood glucose. However, at 2 h of transport, Aloe enhanced the respiratory activity of leukocytes in a dose-dependent way. The highest value of respiratory burst activity of leukocytes was observed in the fish transported in water containing Aloe at 2 mg/L. The enhancing effect of the plant extract on the production of oxygen radicals was confirmed in vitro in leukocytes of pacu incubated in Aloe at concentrations 0.1 and 0.2 mg/L. The results suggest that Aloe vera is a modulator of the immune system in fish improving the innate immune response tested.

Effects of Lactobacillus Probiotic, P22 Bacteriophage and Salmonella Typhimurium on the Heterophilic Burst Activity of Broiler Chickens

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Disease resistance of pacu Piaractus mesopotamicus (Holmberg, 1887) fed with beta-glucan

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Atividade respiratória de leucócitos como indicador de imunidade inata de pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Leukocytes respiratory burst and lysozyme level in pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus Holmberg, 1887)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

4 '-Aminochalcones As Novel Inhibitors of the Chlorinating Activity of Myeloperoxidase

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Differences in transcriptional activity of human papillomavirus type 6 molecular variants in recurrent respiratory papillomatosis

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Experimental murine mycobacteriosis: evaluation of the functional activity of alveolar macrophages in thalidomide- treated mice

Thalidomide is a selective inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), a cytokine involved in mycobacterial death mechanisms. We investigated the role of this drug in the functional activity of alveolar macrophages in the presence of infection induced by intranasal inoculation of Mycobacterium avium in thalidomide-treated and untreated adult Swiss mice. Sixty animals were inoculated with 5 x 10(6) M. avium by the respiratory route. Thirty animals received daily thalidomide (30 mg/kg mouse) and 30 received water by gavage up to sacrifice. Ten non-inoculated mice were used as a control group. Lots of animals from each group were evaluated until 6 weeks after inoculation. Infection resulted in an increased total number of inflammatory cells as well as increased activity of pulmonary macrophages. Histologically, intranasal inoculation of bacilli resulted in small mononuclear infiltrates located at the periphery of the organ. Culture of lung fragments revealed the presence of bacilli only at the beginning and at the end of the experimental period. Thalidomide administration did not affect the microbiological or histological features of the infection. Thalidomide-treated and untreated animals showed the same amount of M. avium colonies 3 weeks after infection. Although it did not affect bacillary clearance, thalidomide administration resulted in a decreased percent of spread cells and release of hydrogen peroxide, suggesting that factors other than TNF-alpha play a role in the killing of mycobacteria by alveolar macrophages. Thalidomide administration also reduced the number of spread cells among resident macrophages, suggesting a direct effect of the drug on this phenomenon.

Response activity of alveolar macrophages in pulmonary dysfunction caused by Leptospira infection

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Antimycobacterial activity of some Brazilian indigenous medicinal drinks

Tuberculosis (TB) is a very serious problem worldwide and the increasing number of multiple drugs resistant TB cases makes the search for new anti-TB drugs an urgent need. Indigenous knowledge about the use of native plants to treat illnesses has contributed to the discovery of new medicines. In this study, the antimycobacterial activity of seven medicinal drinks was assessed: Ananas sativus (hydroalcoholic fruit extract), Aristolochia triangularis (aqueous and hydroalcoholic leaf, root and stem extracts), Bromelia antiacantha (hydroalcoholic fruit extract), Stryphnodendron adstringens (hydroalcoholic bark extract), Tabebuia ovellanedae (hydroalcoholic bark extract), Vernonia polyanthes (hydroalcoholic root extract), all used by the Vanuíre indigenous community in the treatment of respiratory diseases. The activity was evaluated by using a time-to-kill assay, in which Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv was cultured on Löwenstein-Jensen medium, after thirty minutes, one, three, six, twelve and twenty-four hours contact of the bacteria with each drink. Within half to one hour contact, the hydroalcoholic drinks of A. triangularis, S. adstringens, T. ovellanedae and V. polyanthes reduced the bacterial growth by 2 orders of magnitude in CFU/mL, and all bacterial growth was absent after three hours contact. In contrast, no mycobactericidal effect was detected in the aqueous extract of A. triangularis or in the hydroalcoholic beverages of A. sativus and B. antiacantha, even after twenty-four hours contact.

Effects of sublethal dose of fipronil on neuron metabolic activity of africanized honeybees

Fipronil is a neurotoxic insecticide that inhibits the gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor and can affect gustative perception, olfactory learning, and motor activity of the honeybee Apis mellifera. This study determined the lethal dose (LD50) and the lethal concentration (LC50) for Africanized honeybee and evaluated the toxicity of a sublethal dose of fipronil on neuron metabolic activity by way of histochemical analysis using cytochrome oxidase detection in brains from worker bees of different ages. In addition, the present study investigated the recovery mechanism by discontinuing the oral exposure to fipronil. The results showed that mushroom bodies of aged Africanized honeybees are affected by fipronil, which causes changes in metabolism by increasing the respiratory activity of mitochondria. In antennal lobes, the sublethal dose of fipronil did not cause an increase in metabolic activity. The recovery experiments showed that discontinued exposure to a diet contaminated with fipronil did not lead to recovery of neural activity. Our results show that even at very low concentrations, fipronil is harmful to honeybees and can induce several types of injuries to honeybee physiology. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Energy deficit does not affect immune responses of experimentally infected pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Effects of Low Molecular Weight Sulfated Galactan Fragments From Botryocladia Occidentalis on the Pharmacological and Enzymatic Activity of Spla2 From Crotalus Durissus Cascavella

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Effect of the synthetic coumarin, ethyl 2-oxo-2H-chromene-3-carboxylate, on activity of Crotalus durissus ruruima sPLA2 as well as on edema and platelet aggregation induced by this factor

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity of derivatives from aerial parts of Baccharis uncinella

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)